Robotically manipulable sample handling tool

ABSTRACT

A sample handling tool, such as a colony picking head or robotic pipetting tool, includes sample handling needles, e.g., capillaries, arranged on the tool. Actuators are associated with each capillary to control flow for the capillary, e.g., to move the capillary and/or draw fluid into/expel fluid from the capillary. The actuators are arranged so that capillaries may be individually controlled by a controller that is capable of outputting a number of control signals that is less than the total number of capillaries. The actuators may be valves that receive two signals from a controller, a first signal that opens or closes the valve, and a second signal that allows fluid to flow in the valve.

This application is a continuation-in-part of International ApplicationNo. PCT/US03/09470, filed Mar. 28, 2003, which is an internationalapplication of, and claims the benefit of/priority to, U.S. applicationSer. No. 10/113,865, filed Apr. 1, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,476.Application Nos. PCT/US03/09470 and 10/113,865 are hereby incorporatedby reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

This invention relates to robotically manipulable sample handling tools,such as robotic pipetting devices.

2. Related Art

Robotically manipulated tools having a plurality of picking needles arewidely used, for example, in proteomic and genomic research. Thesedevices are used to move material samples both to and from a variety ofdifferent work areas, such as microtiter trays, gels having separatedDNA fragments, and other material holding devices. Some such tools mayhave a plurality of needles arranged in an array that corresponds towells in a microtiter tray, such as the commonly-known 96-well or384-well plate. The array of needles arranged to correspond with all ofthe wells in a microtiter tray may allow material to be simultaneouslydeposited in, and removed from, wells in the microtiter tray, thusincreasing the speed at which a plurality of samples in a microtitertray may be processed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one illustrative embodiment in accordance with the invention, arobotically manipulable material handling tool includes a body and aplurality of needles mounted to the tool body. Each of the plurality ofneedles is constructed and arranged to remove material from a work areaand/or deposit material on a work area. The tool also includes aplurality of actuators that each correspond to one of the plurality ofneedles. The actuators are constructed and arranged to actuate acorresponding needle and are grouped into a first number of controlgroups and a second number of drive groups, with each control group anddrive group having only one actuator in common. A plurality of controlswitches may each be associated with a corresponding control group ofactuators and adapted to provide a control signal to actuators in thecorresponding control group. A plurality of drive switches may beassociated with a corresponding drive group and adapted to provided adrive signal to the actuators in the corresponding drive group. Theplurality of control switches and drive switches are constructed andarranged to provide control signals and drive signals, respectively, toindividually actuate each of the plurality of needles.

In another illustrative embodiment, a sample handling tool includes abody and a first number of needles mounted to the tool body. As usedherein, a “needle” refers to any suitable arrangement for handling asample, such as a capillary tube or element, a pipette channel, aremovable pipette tip, a coring device, etc. Each of the needles, e.g.,capillaries, is constructed and arranged to remove material from a workarea and/or deposit material on a work area. A controller is constructedand arranged to control the capillaries so as to simultaneously actuatea plurality of the capillaries, and is adapted to control thecapillaries so as to individually actuate each capillary independent ofother capillaries. For example, the controller may be adapted toindividually control flow for each capillary.

In another illustrative embodiment, a sample handling tool includes abody and a first number of needles mounted to the body. Each of theneedles may be constructed and arranged to remove material from a workarea and/or deposit material on a work area. The tool may also includesa first number of actuators with each actuator associated with acorresponding needle and constructed and arranged to actuate thecorresponding needle. A controller may be constructed and arranged tocontrol each of the actuators by providing a maximum of a second numberof signals to the actuators where the second number is less than thefirst number. The controller may be adapted to control the actuators andindividually actuate needles and/or simultaneously actuate a pluralityof needles. As used herein, one “signal” used by the controller tocontrol an actuator and/or actuate a needle refers to a signal havingone or more possible states. Thus, the controller is said to be capableof providing one “signal” to an actuator although the one “signal” mayset the actuator in different states, e.g., on/off, enable/disable, etc,and the one “signal” may have two different forms to cause the differentactuator states, e.g., high or low. For example, a controller may beadapted to provide one “signal” to an actuator to put the actuator in anenable or disable state. The one “signal” may have one state, e.g., ahigh pressure, to place the actuator in an enable state, and a secondstate, e.g., low pressure, to place the actuator in a disable state.

In another illustrative embodiment, a sample handling tool includes abody and a plurality of needles mounted to the tool body in M columnsand N rows. Each of the needles may be constructed and arranged toremove material from a work area and/or deposit material on a work area.A plurality of valves may each be associated with a corresponding needleand control flow for the needle. A plurality of switches may providesignals to the valves to actuate the needles, either individually or inselected groups. The total number of signals used by the plurality ofswitches may be no more than M+N.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent and/or obviousfrom the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments in accordance with the invention are describedbelow with reference to the following drawings, in which like numeralsreference like elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a sample handling tool in accordancewith the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic, perspective view of a tool in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the tool shown in FIG. 2 and illustrates howindividual needle actuators may be addressed; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along the line A—A in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects of the invention are described below with reference toillustrative embodiments. However, it should be understood that theinvention is not limited to those embodiments described below, butinstead may be used in any suitable system or arrangement.

In one aspect of the invention, needles in a tool may be individuallyactuated or otherwise controlled by a controller that is capable ofoutputting a maximum number of signals that is less than the totalnumber of needles on the tool. For example, if the tool has an M×N arrayof needles, the controller may be arranged to output a maximum of numberof signals that is less than M×N, yet still be capable of individuallyactuating selected needles. Such actuation may include moving a needlerelative to the tool, such as extending the needle away from the toolapart from other needles on the body, controlling flow in the needle,such as allowing fluid to flow into or expelling fluid out from theneedle, or otherwise causing the needle to perform one or more materialhandling functions. In addition, the controller may simultaneouslyactuate all needles in the array, or simultaneously actuate selectedgroups of needles, such as all or selected needles in a particular rowor column of needles. This arrangement may allow individual control ofneedles without requiring a controller to output an individual controlsignal for each needle.

In one aspect of the invention, actuators in a material handling toolmay be grouped into control groups and drive groups, where each controlgroup has one actuator in common with each drive group. Actuators in acontrol group may be linked so that a common control signal may besimultaneously provided to all actuators in the control group, e.g., tocause the actuators to be in an enable state ready to actuate acorresponding needle. Actuators may also be linked so that a commondrive signal may be simultaneously provided to all actuators in a drivegroup, where the drive signal causes actuation of a needle when receivedby an actuator in an enable state. Since control groups and drive groupsinclude one actuator in common, a particular needle may be actuated byproviding a control signal to the needle's control group and providing adrive signal to the needle's drive group. That is, a needle may beactuated only when its corresponding actuator receives both anappropriate control signal and an appropriate drive signal. Accordingly,individual actuation of needles can be effected by a controller withoutrequiring the controller to output control signals for each needle.Instead, the controller may be arranged to output a maximum number ofcontrol signals that is less than the number of needles, e.g., equal tothe total number of control and drive groups. Such an arrangement alsoallows for simultaneous actuation of all needles in the tool, orselected groups of needles.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a robot 1 manipulating a samplehandling tool 10 in accordance with the invention. The robot 1 may movethe sample handling tool 10 and allow needles 4 on the tool 10 to pickup and/or deposit material on one or more work areas, such as microtitertrays, gels containing separated DNA fragments or other biologicmaterials, a bath containing a wash solution, etc. For example, therobot 1 may move the tool 10 so that one or more needles 4 areappropriately positioned with respect to a microtiter tray and thenactuate one or more needles 4 to remove material from, or depositmaterial in, wells in the microtiter tray. Those of skill in the artwill understand that the needles may be actuated to perform othermaterial handling operations, such as colony or plaque picking at thedirection of a machine vision system. The purposes and methods for suchmaterial handling are well known to those in the art and not describedin detail herein.

In the illustrative embodiments described below, the needles 4 may becapillary elements, e.g., capillary tubes or other structures, suitablefor picking up a liquid that enters the element by capillary action. Thecapillaries may be arranged to fill completely, or fill to a specificlevel. For example, capillaries may have a flow restrictor positioned inthe capillary channel that prevents filling of the channel past therestrictor. Alternately, the channel may have an affinity gradient,e.g., a lower part of the capillary channel may have a relatively highaffinity for the liquid while an upper part of the capillary may have alower affinity, and thus capillary filling of the channel may stop atthe high affinity/low affinity boundary. Filling of the capillaries mayaid in controlling the volume of liquid picked up and/or dispensed bythe capillary. Sample volumes picked up/dispensed by the capillaries maycontrolled to be in the nanoliter range, or higher or lower as desired.Volume control may alternately be controlled by a metering piston orother arrangement that closely controls the flow through capillaries.Thus, capillaries may be controlled to pick up/dispense a desired volumeof fluid by controlling a flow of fluid into/out of a line incommunication with the capillaries.

Although the robot 1 is shown in FIG. 1 as having a base and anarticulated arm, the robot 1 may be of any suitable type or constructionand may be capable of moving the tool 10 in any suitable number ofdegrees of freedom. For example, the robot may be a gantry-type robotcapable of moving the tool 10 in three degrees of freedom. Of course,other suitable robotic configurations capable of moving the tool 10 inone or more degrees of freedom may be used. The tool 10 and robot 1 mayinclude a coupling to allow the robot 1 to exchange the tool 10 forother tools, thereby allowing the robot 1 to perform automatedoperations with different tools. The robot 1 or system controller mayinclude a vision system or other suitable device to control positioningof needles 4 with respect to target areas, as is well known. Inaddition, a connection between the tool 10 and the robot 1 may providephysical support to the tool 10 as well as provide electrical power,control signals, a fluid supply or other fluid signal, etc. As usedherein, “fluid” refers to gases and/or liquids and/or liquids thatinclude or contain solid particles. It should also be understood thatthe tool 10 need not be manipulated by a robot 1, but may be fixed inplace or moved on one or more directions by a non-robotic system, suchas in some dedicated liquid handling systems.

In the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 1, the tool 10 includes acontroller 2 that outputs signals to actuators 3 that causecorresponding needles 4 (in this illustrative embodiment, capillaries)to be actuated. As discussed above, actuation of a needle 4 may causethe needle 4 to move relative to the tool 10, such as extend away fromthe tool to pick or place material on a work area, control flow in theneedle, such as drawing fluid into or expelling fluid out from theneedle, or otherwise cause the needle to perform one or more materialhandling functions. In this illustrative embodiment, the controller 2,actuators 3 and needles 4 are all mounted to a body 5 of the tool 10,but the controller 2 and/or actuators may be arranged off of the tool10. Although in this illustrative embodiment the body 5 has a box-likeshape, the body 5 may be arranged in any suitable way. Further, theneedles 4 in this illustrative embodiment are arranged in a 3×4 arrayand extend from a bottom of the body 5, but any suitable number ofneedles 4 may be arranged in any suitable way on the body 5, e.g., toaccommodate particular well patterns in a microtiter tray. The needles 4may be removably mounted to the tool (e.g., to allow replacement of oneor more capillaries), and/or permanently fixed to the tool body.

The controller 2, which may in some embodiments be provided off of thetool 10, may provide any suitable signal or combination of signals tothe actuators 3 to actuate the needles 4. For example, the controller 2may provide electrical signals, magnetic signals, optical signals, fluidsignals (e.g., changes in fluid pressure and/or flow), or combinationsof such signals, such as providing both an electrical signal and a fluidsignal to the actuators 3. Typically, signals provided by the controller2 will depend upon the type of actuators 3. For example, the actuators 3may be pneumatically-controlled fluid valves that open, close orotherwise change state based on a fluid signal. Of course, the actuatorsmay include electrically-controlled fluid valves, solenoids, relays, orother suitable devices to actuate a corresponding needle. For example,the tool 10 may include one actuator for each needle, where eachactuator includes a valve and associated pneumatic ram such that whenthe valve is open and air pressure is supplied through the open valve,the pneumatic ram may extend, and thereby extend a corresponding needle4 from the body 5. Thus, the actuators may be responsive to two signalsreceived from the controller 2 to actuate the needles 4. Having theactuators 3 respond to two signals from the controller 2 may allow formatrix-type addressing of the actuators 3, as discussed in more detailbelow.

The controller 2 may operate autonomously to actuate the needles 4 oroperate at the direction of a higher level controller that is part of amaterial handling system. For example, the controller 2 may receive ahigh-level signal to activate a particular needle or group of needles ata particular time and/or position of the tool 10, and generate andoutput appropriate signals to cause the desired actuation. Thecontroller 2 may receive the signals in any suitable way, such as bywired and/or wireless link, and in any suitable format and/orcommunications protocol. The controller 2 and/or higher level controllermay include any suitable general purpose data processing system, whichcan be, or include, a suitably programmed general purpose computer, ornetwork of general purpose computers, and other associated devices,including communication devices, and/or other circuitry or componentsnecessary to perform the desired input/output or other functions. Thecontrollers can also be implemented at least in part as single specialpurpose integrated circuits (e.g., ASICs), or an array of ASICs, eachhaving a main or central processor section for overall, system-levelcontrol and separate sections dedicated to performing various differentspecific computations, functions and other processes under the controlof the central processor section. The controllers can also beimplemented using a plurality of separate dedicated programmableintegrated or other electronic circuits or devices, e.g., hardwiredelectronic or logic circuits, such as discrete element circuits orprogrammable logic devices. The controllers may also include otherdevices, such as an information display device, user input devices, suchas a keyboard, user pointing device, touch screen or other userinterface, data storage devices, communication devices or otherelectronic circuitry or components.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a tool 10 in accordance with theinvention. In this illustrative embodiment, the tool 10 includes a 3×4array of actuators 3 that are each associated with a correspondingneedle 4. Thus, when an actuator 3 receives appropriate signals, thecorresponding needle 4 is actuated, e.g., fluid flow in the needle iscontrolled and/or the needle 4 is moved relative to the body 5. In thisillustrative embodiment, the controller 2 includes four control switches21 that are associated with actuators 3 in rows across the tool 10, anddrive switches 22 that are associated with actuators 3 in columns on thetool 10. Control signals may be provided to the control switches 21 anddrive switches 22 by a portion of the controller 2 (e.g., a dataprocessor and associated memory) on the tool 10, or by another sourceoff of the tool 10. Based on these control signals, the control switches21 and drive switches 22 may provide suitable signals to the actuators 3to actuate a particular needle or needles. The switches 21 and 22 may beany suitable device capable of responding to a control signal andproviding a signal to corresponding actuators 3. For example, theswitches 21 and 22 may include electrically-controlled orpneumatically-controlled valves capable of switching an associatedcontrol or drive line 23 or 24 between one or more fluid supply lines,e.g., sources of relatively high, low and/or ambient pressure, orsources of fluid flow. Pressure or other fluid flow sources may beprovided to the switches 21 and 22 by lines (not shown) that lead to apump, metering piston or other devices off of the tool body 10.

It should be understood that although the actuators 3 in thisillustrative embodiment are arranged in columns and rows, the actuators3 may be logically grouped in any suitable way and in any suitablepattern. Further, the tool 10 is not limited to a 3×4 array, but insteadmay have any suitable number of actuators and/or needles arranged in anysuitable pattern, such as a pattern that allows the needles 4 tointeract with standard 96-well, 384-well or other size/configurationmicrotiter trays or other material sample holders. Thus, the 3×4 arrayin this illustrative embodiment is used for simplicity and ease ofreference, but should in no way be interpreted as limiting aspects ofthe invention in any way.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic top view of the tool 10 shown in FIG. 2. Rowsof actuators 3 are labeled A-D, and one control switch 21 may correspondto each row A-D. Similarly, columns of the actuators 3 are numbered 1-3and one drive switch 22 may correspond to each column 1-3. In thisillustrative embodiment, each control switch 21 provides a controlsignal (e.g., a signal having two or more states) approximatelysimultaneously to all actuators 3 in the corresponding row via a controlline 23. Thus, control groups of actuators 3 in this embodiment arearranged in rows. The control signal provided to a control group maycause the actuators 3 in the group to change state between an enablestate and a disable state. In the disable state, an actuator 3 may beunable to actuate a corresponding needle 4. In the enable state, theactuator 3 may be free to actuate the corresponding needle 4 uponreceipt of an appropriate drive signal. Each of the drive switches 22may approximately simultaneously provide a drive signal to all actuators3 in a corresponding column along a drive line 24. Thus, drive groups inthis embodiment are arranged in columns. The drive signal may causeactuators in an enable state to actuate a corresponding needle 4.However, in this embodiment, an actuator in a disable state may notactuate a corresponding needle even if a drive signal that wouldotherwise cause actuation is received.

Accordingly, individual actuators may be caused to actuate acorresponding needle 4, i.e., individual actuators 3 may be addressed,by providing a control signal (e.g., causing an enable or disable stateof the actuators) along the actuator's corresponding control line 23 anda drive signal (e.g., causing a flow or no flow condition) along theactuator's corresponding drive line 24. For example, the actuator 3 inthe top right comer of the tool 10 as shown in FIG. 3 may be addressedby providing a control signal from the control switch 21 for row A andproviding a drive signal from the drive switch 22 for column 3. Otheractuators in the row A and in column 3 will not actuate a correspondingneedle 4 unless an appropriate control signal and drive signal arereceived along appropriate lines. Thus, when the actuator 3 in the topright comer of the tool 10 (i.e., position A-3) is actuated, actuatorsin the row A and in columns 1 and 2 will not be actuated unless drivesignals are provided by the drive switches 22 for columns 1 and 2. As aresult, individual needles 4 may be actuated by providing appropriatesignals to groups, e.g., rows and/or columns, of actuators in the tool10.

It should also be appreciated that selected groups of actuators 3 may beaddressed by providing appropriate signals along the rows A-D andcolumns 1-3. For example, all needles on the tool 10, or selectedneedles, in a particular row or column may be approximatelysimultaneously actuated, e.g., all of the actuators 3 in row A may beactuated by providing an appropriate control signal from the controlswitch 21 for row A and appropriate drive signals from the driveswitches 22 for columns 1-3. It will be appreciated that other selectedgroups of needles may be approximately simultaneously actuated byproviding signals on appropriate control and drive lines 23 and 24.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the tool 10 along the line A—A inFIG. 3. As discussed above, the actuators 3 may take any suitable form,but in this illustrative embodiment, include one or more valves 31. Thevarious control lines 23, drive lines 24, needle channels 33, valves 31and other features may be formed in upper and lower blocks 11 and 12 ofthe tool body 10. The blocks 11 and 12 may be made of any suitablematerial(s), such as plastic, and the channels, lines, chambers andother features may be formed in any suitable way using any suitableprocess. For example, each block may be made of multiple layers ofplastic material that have grooves, channels or are otherwise formed tocreate the desired lines, channels, etc. in the tool body 10. Theselayers may be joined together, e.g., by heating the layers and pressingthem together, to form a unitary block.

In one illustrative embodiment, the valves 31 may be poppet-type fluidvalves that are located within, partially within or outside the toolbody 5. Such a valve may be opened to allow fluid to flow in acorresponding needle 4, e.g., to allow the capillary to pick up a liquidsample by capillary action. Conversely, if a poppet valve actuator for acapillary is closed, fluid flow in the capillary can be inhibited, andthe capillary will not fill with fluid even if the free end of thecapillary is inserted into a body of suitable fluid. For example, thevalve may have a moveable member that can be put in a first position toprevent flow between a drive line 24 and a needle channel 33 (as shownin FIG. 4), and moved to a second position to allow flow between thedrive line 24 and the needle channel 33. The poppet valve actuator canalso be used to supply fluid under pressure to a correspondingcapillary, e.g., to use air to expel fluid in the capillary and/or tosupply a liquid to the capillary that is dispensed from the capillary.

The rows of valves 31 may be connected to a common control line 23, andcolumns of valves 31 may be connected to a common drive line 24. Signalsprovided on the control lines 23 in this embodiment may serve to switchthe valves 31 between an open (or enable) state and closed (or disable)state. When a valve is in an enable state, a drive signal provided alongthe valve's drive line 24 may be provided through the valve 31 to anassociated needle channel 33. Therefore, a control signal may beprovided to valves 31 in a row to switch the valves to an enable state,and a drive signal supplied to a drive line 24 for the valves 31 in anenable state may cause actuation of needles corresponding to the enabledvalves 31. For example, when a valve is in an enable state, fluid mayflow through the valve to allow a fluid to flow into a correspondingcapillary, or expel fluids out of the capillary. Alternately, the drivesignal, such as a pressurized fluid flow through the valve 31, may causea pneumatic ram 32 or other device to move an associated needle 4, e.g.,extend the needle away from the tool 10 to pick material from a workarea.

The control and drive signals may also cause the valves 31 to performother actuation operations with respect to the needles, such as pumpingfluid through a corresponding needle channel 33 and/or drawing orexpelling a metered amount of fluid into or out of a correspondingneedle 4. Pumping and metering operations may be performed by, forexample, placing the valve 31 in a closed state, closing a drive line 24for the valve 31 at a drive switch 22, and then placing the valve 31 inan open state, thereby causing fluid to be drawn into the needle 4.Movement of the valve parts may be closely controlled to performaccurate fluid metering through the valve's needle, e.g., by controllingthe amount of fluid drawn from the valve by the control line 23. Suchcontrol can be performed by a metering piston coupled to the controlline 23 or drive line 24, by accurately timing the opening and closingof a valve in the control switch 21 while supplying a constant fluidflow through the valve 31, or other means as will be appreciated bythose of skill in the art.

It should be appreciated that although the control and drive switches inthis illustrative embodiment control fluid flow to corresponding rowsand columns of valves, the switches may provide other signal types tothe actuators, such as electrical, optical, magnetic and other signaltypes. Similarly, the actuators and/or valves 31 in this embodiment mayinclude or be replaced with any other suitable element(s), such aselectrical or optical relays, transistors, optical valves, etc., and theactuators 3 may include other drive elements, such as hydraulic rams,solenoid actuators, motors, and so on. Therefore, any suitablearrangement of elements may be used as actuators to receive control anddrive signals and actuate a corresponding needle.

While the invention has been described with reference to variousillustrative embodiments, the invention is not limited to theembodiments described. Thus, it is evident that many alternatives,modifications, and variations of the embodiments described will beapparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, embodiments of theinvention as set forth herein are intended to be illustrative, notlimiting. Various changes may be made without departing from theinvention.

1. A sample handling tool, comprising: a body; a plurality ofcapillaries mounted to the body, each of the plurality of capillariesconstructed and arranged to remove material from a work area and depositmaterial on a work area; a plurality of actuators, each of the pluralityof actuators associated with a corresponding one of the plurality ofcapillaries and constructed and arranged to actuate the correspondingcapillary, the plurality of actuators grouped into a first number ofcontrol groups and a second number of drive groups, each control groupand drive group having only one actuator in common, the first and secondnumbers being greater than one; a plurality of control switches mountedto the body, each of the plurality of control switches associated with acorresponding control group of actuators and adapted to provide acontrol signal to the actuators in the corresponding control group ofactuators; and a plurality of drive switches mounted to the body, eachof the plurality of drive switches associated with a corresponding drivegroup and adapted to provide a drive signal to the actuators in thecorresponding drive group; wherein the plurality of control switches andthe plurality of drive switches are constructed and arranged to providecontrol signals and drive signals, respectively, to individually actuateeach of the plurality of capillaries.
 2. The tool of claim 1, whereineach of the plurality of actuators includes a valve that controls fluidflow with respect to a corresponding capillary.
 3. The tool of claim 2,wherein each of the plurality of control switches provides an airpressure signal to valves in a control group corresponding to thecontrol switch.
 4. The tool of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality ofdrive switches provides a fluid flow to valves in a drive groupcorresponding to the drive switch.
 5. The tool of claim 2, wherein theplurality of capillaries and corresponding valves are arranged in an M×Narray with control groups of valves arranged in rows and drive groups ofvalves arranged in columns.
 6. The tool of claim 5, wherein theplurality of control switches each provide an air pressure signal tovalves in a corresponding row.
 7. The tool of claim 5, wherein theplurality of drive switches each provide a fluid flow to valves in acorresponding column.
 8. The tool of claim 5, wherein actuation of acapillary includes extending the capillary from the body.
 9. The tool ofclaim 5, wherein actuation of a capillary includes one of drawing fluidinto and expelling fluid from the capillary.
 10. A sample handling tool,comprising: a body; a first number of capillaries mounted to the body,each of the capillaries constructed and arranged to remove material froma work area and deposit material on a work area; a first number ofvalves, each valve associated with a corresponding capillary andcontrolling flow for the capillary; and a valve controller constructedand arranged to control each of the valves by providing a maximum of asecond number of signals to the valves, the second number being lessthan the first number; wherein the valve controller is adapted tocontrol the valves to individually control flow for each capillary. 11.The tool of claim 10, wherein the valve controller provides an airpressure signal to the valves to control the valves between open andclosed states.
 12. The tool of claim 11, wherein the valve controllerprovides a fluid flow to valves.
 13. The tool of claim 10, wherein theplurality of capillaries and corresponding valves are arranged in an M×Narray with control groups of valves arranged in rows and drive groups ofvalves arranged in columns.
 14. The tool of claim 13, wherein the valvecontroller provides an air pressure signal to valves in a correspondingrow.
 15. The tool of claim 13, wherein the valve controller provides afluid flow to valves in a corresponding column.
 16. The tool of claim10, wherein the capillaries are arranged to move relative to the body.17. The tool of claim 10, wherein controlling flow for a capillaryincludes allowing fluid to enter into the capillary and/or expellingfluid from the capillary.
 18. The tool of claim 13, wherein the valvecontroller is mounted to the body.
 19. The tool of claim 10, wherein thevalve controller is adapted to control the valves to simultaneouslycontrol flow for a plurality of capillaries, wherein control of flow forthe capillaries includes allowing fluid to enter into the capillariesand/or expelling fluid from the capillaries.
 20. The tool of claim 10,wherein: wherein the plurality of capillaries and corresponding valvesare arranged in an M×N array; and the valve controller comprises aplurality of switches that provide signals to the valves, the number ofswitches being at most M+N.
 21. A sample handling tool, comprising: abody; a first number of capillaries mounted to the tool body, each ofthe capillaries constructed and arranged to remove material from a workarea and deposit material on a work area; and a controller that isadapted to control the capillaries so as to simultaneously actuate aplurality of the capillaries, and is adapted to control the capillariesso as to individually actuate each capillary independent of othercapillaries.
 22. The tool of claim 21, wherein the controller includes aplurality of actuators that each correspond to a capillary and controlfluid flow for the corresponding capillary.
 23. The tool of claim 22,wherein each of the plurality of actuators receives an air pressuresignal to actuate a corresponding capillary.
 24. The tool of claim 22,wherein each of the actuators is arranged to control a fluid flow in thecorresponding capillary.
 25. The tool of claim 22, wherein each actuatorincludes a valve that is adjustable between open and closed states toallow fluid to flow in a corresponding capillary.
 26. The tool of claim21, wherein the plurality of capillaries are arranged in an M×N array.27. The tool of claim 21, wherein the controller actuates capillaries toallow fluid to flow into selected capillaries by capillary action. 28.The tool of claim 21, wherein the wherein the controller actuatescapillaries to expel fluid from selected capillaries.
 29. The tool ofclaim 21, wherein the controller controls selected capillaries to expela controlled volume of fluid.
 30. The tool of claim 21, whereinactuation of a capillary includes one of aspirating fluid into andexpelling fluid from the capillary.
 31. The tool of claim 21, whereinthe controller is mounted to the body.
 32. The tool of claim 21, whereinthe controller includes M switches each associated with M columns ofcapillaries, each of the M switches corresponding to and providingsignals to a corresponding column, and N switches each associated with Nrows of capillaries, each of the N switches corresponding to andproviding signals to a corresponding row.
 33. The tool of claim 21,wherein the controller can actuate selected groups of capillaries tosimultaneously pick up or expel fluid.
 34. The tool of claim 21, whereinthe tool includes a first number of capillaries, and the valvecontroller is adapted to individually actuate each of the capillariesusing a second number of signals that is less than the first number. 35.A sample handling tool, comprising: a body; a first number of needlesmounted to the body, each of the needles constructed and arranged toremove material from a work area and deposit material on a work area; afirst number of actuators, each actuator associated with a correspondingneedle and controlling flow for the needle; and a controller constructedand arranged to control each of the actuators by providing a maximum ofa second number of signals to the actuators, the second number beingless than the first number; wherein the controller is adapted to controlthe actuators to individually control flow for each needle.
 36. The toolof claim 35, wherein the actuators each include a valve.